New Delhi: The Gujarat Home Department on Thursday transferred the Superintendents of Police of Botad and Ahmedabad districts and suspended six other cops, news agency PTI reported. This comes three days after several people lost their lives after consuming illicit liquor. “We have transferred Botad SP Karanraj Vaghela and Ahmedabad SP Virendrasingh Yadav. Six police officials, including two Deputy SPs, a circle police inspector, a police inspector and two sub-inspectors, have been put under suspension,” Additional Chief Secretary, Home, Raj Kumar told PTI.
Forty-two people have lost their lives after consuming illicit alcohol in Botad and neighbouring Ahmedabad districts on July 25, Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi said on Wednesday, reported PTI. At least 97 people are still admitted to hospitals in Bhavnagar, Botad and Ahmedabad, he added.
Forensic analysis established that the victims consumed methyl alcohol.
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In the primary investigation, it was discovered that some small-time bootleggers of different villages in the Botad district had made illicit liquor by mixing water and methyl alcohol or Methanol, a highly poisonous industrial solvent, and sold it to villagers for Rs 20 per pouch, according to the PTI report.
Investigation revealed that a person named Jayesh aka Raju had stolen 600 litres of methyl alcohol from a godown in Ahmedabad where he worked as a manager and then sold it to his Botad-based cousin Sanjay for Rs 40,000 on July 25. Despite knowing it was an industrial solvent, Sanjay sold the chemical to bootleggers of different villages of Botad, who then mixed the solvent with water and sold it as country-made liquor.